Happy Mother's Day!

To all of you who are moms, Happy Mother's Day!

Today was certainly a very special day for me. Our second graduated from Kindergarten religious education this morning. He processed into church, wearing his little white paper "cap," complete with a little white tassel. And then he came to find me, handed me a white rose and gave me a huge hug and a kiss. I love this age. I adore their open love and complete lack of embarrassment at giving hugs and kisses. I won't lie, I had tears in my eyes as he turned to go join his classmates and receive his certificate. Life is good and I'm so thankful to have our 4 beautiful, healthy and happy children.

I'm also remembering my first ever "mother's day." I was 7 months pregnant with our daughter, so I was fairly obviously at the point where I couldn't "put it back" as if I had changed my mind on the color of a shirt. My husband was deployed, and I headed off to church by myself. Well, myself and my big belly. The elders were giving out carnations to all of the mothers. As I started to walk past into church, one stopped me and asked if I had any other children, to which I replied that no, this was my first. Would you like to know what he told me? "Oh, well, then you're not a mother. You can't have a carnation."

I certainly wasn't looking for a flower, but being told that I wasn't a mother just needled me. Honestly, I was caring for this baby 24 hours a day. She was definitely part of me and my life has never been the same since the first moment we knew she would be part of our lives.

So to all who are expecting your first child, Happy Mother's Day to you as well. You're definitely a mom in my book!

two down, two to go...

As of tonight, we officially have two kids riding bikes solo, and two who still have a ways to go. Tonight, our oldest son finally learned the fine art of starting. By golly, I think he's got it! It was so fun to watch him realize that he could start all by himself. And then he did it over, and over, and over again. And then he crashed. Poor little dude! We are working on the other fine art...of crashing, and then getting back up. We have a teeny bit of work left to do in that area! Fortunately, I have quite the large supply of bandaids, so I think we're set.

In other news, our youngest (21 months) has mastered his tricycle! First he learned how to pedal backwards. Then he learned how to pedal forwards, lol! It's nice to have the handle to hurry him along when necessary, but it is also really neat to see him go all by himself! Well, right up until #3 intentionally runs him over...oops! We still need lessons in "right of way" etiquette.

Coming back to the blog

You know, it has been almost two weeks since we got home from our trip. I just reread my blog, and relived so many experiences. And then I realized that so much has happened since we arrived home, and I have neglected to post and let you in on all of the excitement!

Our week following the trip was filled with unpacking, scrubbing those horrid bugs off of the car, putting things away, doing laundry and cleaning house. It was all accomplished at a pretty break neck pace as we were expecting bunches of family the following weekend. Why, you might ask? Well, read on!

We celebrated First Holy Communion with our oldest on the 29th of April. It was a beautiful experience. Instead of having the kids take their first communion alone, each child was accompanied by their family. To witness her taking her first communion was one thing. It was another thing entirely to take communion with her. Truly, it was a beautiful celebration.

Then we followed it up with a small celebration at home with lots of family. My parents were here as well as Mike's mom, grandmother, aunt and cousins. It was a lot of fun!

The next week was spent catching up with school and beginning the end of the school year. I certainly haven't felt the April burn out as I have in years past. Instead, I'm fresh and eager to continue school and head into the summer!